


Ohana means family (and family means no one gets left behind)

by SophieRomanoff97



Series: The Lives of Little Natasha and her Family [16]
Category: Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: ABDL, Aftermath of Torture, Aftermath of Violence, Age Regression/De-Aging, Avengers Family, Avengers Tower, BAMF Natasha Romanov, Blood and Injury, Broken Bones, Bruce Banner Feels, Bruce Banner Is a Good Bro, Bruce Banner Needs a Hug, Bucky Barnes Feels, Bucky Barnes Is a Good Bro, Bucky Barnes Needs a Hug, Canon-Typical Violence, Clint Barton Feels, Clint Barton Is a Good Bro, Clint Barton Needs a Hug, Cute, Dissociation, Domestic Avengers, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Everyone Is Poly Because Avengers, F/M, Head Injury, Hospitals, Hurt Natasha Romanov, Hurt/Comfort, Injury, Injury Recovery, M/M, Major Character Injury, Medical, Medical Procedures, Multi, Natasha Romanov Feels, Natasha Romanov Is Not A Robot, Natasha Romanov Is a Good Bro, Natasha Romanov Needs a Hug, Natasha Romanov-centric, Non-Sexual Age Play, Non-Sexual Intimacy, Polyamory, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Protective Avengers, Protective Bruce Banner, Protective Bucky Barnes, Protective Clint Barton, Protective Steve Rogers, Protective Tony Stark, Rape/Non-con Elements, Red Room (Marvel), Seizures, Steve Rogers Feels, Steve Rogers Is a Good Bro, Steve Rogers Needs a Hug, Team Bonding, Team Dynamics, Team as Family, The Avengers Are Good Bros, Tony Stark Feels, Tony Stark Is a Good Bro, Tony Stark Needs a Hug, Torture, Violence, little Tony, little natasha
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-21
Updated: 2019-06-13
Packaged: 2020-03-09 06:02:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 6
Words: 9,685
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18911026
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SophieRomanoff97/pseuds/SophieRomanoff97
Summary: Natasha wakes up in the hospital to find that her solo mission went awry and days have passed. Injured and in pain, overwhelmed with memories and confusing feelings, she regresses, with her whole family there to help her pick up the pieces.Includes consensual, non sexual age regression, not age play. If you don't like it, don't read it, no nastiness will be tolerated.





	1. Waking

**Author's Note:**

> Hey everyone! I know I just finished a little fic and I have so many other ones I should be updating instead but...right now these fics are my happy place and kinda a coping mechanism really so I hope y'all don't mind. Also, I promise there is a little!Tony centric fic coming soon but what can I say Nat is my fave so I like to write her. This idea has been floating around for a while but I've been on a pre-Avengers kick lately so I was waiting. But here we are with all our faves again. I hope you enjoy! 
> 
> Quick mention: I've used the age-play tag because it was the only one really available but this is genuine regression, not playing.
> 
> TW's: violence, torture mentions, injury, medical stuff, distress, ptsd stuff, dissociation, mentions of nasty Red Room stuff. More will be added as the fic progresses.

Natasha woke up confused. Confused and pretty terrified.

Coming to was not gentle, was not slow, but was quick and jarring and she woke with a gasp, instinctively lashing out.

She remembered being tied up, she remembered the beatings, the touches, remembered being bombarded with questions she would never give the answer to. She remembered the blinding pain, blood in her eyes, blurry faces and finally, nothing.

Her hands weren't tied down anymore but that didn't mean she wasn't still in that hellhole.

So she immediately began to attack, gaze snapping open to reveal more blurry faces, shrouded with light.

Pain shot through her entire body as she hit out, colliding with something or someone. She found quickly that her legs were tangled in something as she tried to stand, something warm and hard grabbing her around the middle, holding onto her, not letting her go.

She hit out again, hearing a soft crack and warmth on her hand as the thing she hit fell back. Something took her hands.

Natasha growled, struggling to get her legs free because the person had her hands and she had to use her feet now.

_get out get out get out_

The person was talking but she couldn't hear a damn thing over the pounding in her temples.

_get out get out get out_

She struggled more, managing to successfully get one leg free, kicking immediately. The hands around her faltered for just a second but were soon tight around her.

This time she might have heard her name amidst the frantic screaming in her head.

_get out get out get out_

She landed another kick against something soft and now she wasn't just aware of one pair of hands but two, and also of something cold and hard jabbing hard into her spine and she writhed to get free.

_get out get out get out_

This time her kick did nothing but cause the hands to tighten, though there was one touch she couldn't quite figure out because they were...stroking her hair?

Luckily or unluckily, maybe, Natasha was well aware she wasn't about to be able to find out.

She could taste blood in her mouth and the ringing in her ears, mixed with the shadows overtaking her vision, all lead the woman to believe she was about to pass out.

_get out-_

She gave as good as she could with the last of her waning energy, kicking out a couple more times before the darkness swallowed her completely.

...

The next time she woke up, things were hazy. Very hazy.

Her mind felt fuzzy and her limbs felt so heavy that she couldn't even lift her head up from whatever warm thing it was resting on.

Her mouth was dry and metallic tasting and something cold kept hitting her square in the face.

_oxygen mask?_

She realized dimly, through the haze, that she hurt a little. Not a lot but enough that it was slightly troubling, but not _super_ troubling because she'd soon recognized the source of the haze.

_meds_

Blinking felt like a lot of effort, her eyelids felt all sandy and gross. But this time around, Natasha was with it enough to recognize where she was.

_hospital_

Which meant she wasn't back in that place any more. It meant someone had come for her, probably _someones_ was more likely.

The warm thing her aching head was resting on was also familiar.

Her mind supplied both _Bucky_ and _Daddy_ at the same time, which indicated immediately that she was toeing the fragile line of headspaces.

Since lifting her head was just too much effort, she settled on forcing her eyes open so she could at least communicate.

She must have made some sort of noise because then there was a gentle hand stroking her hair. "Natasha, love?"

This time she definitely made a noise, managing to slide her eyes open. She cringed immediately at the brightness of the room compared to the room where she'd been kept for god knows how long.

Another hand gently slid over her eyes, not touching her face, but shielding from the light.

"Take a second to adjust, Tash." A rough voice said and yes, that was Clint, _thank god_.

After a couple of minutes, Clint slowly pulled his hand away and this time, whilst bright, the lights weren't blinding.

Natasha quickly scanned the room.

She was in a hospital bed, nearly laying down, her head resting in Bucky's lap. Clint was sitting on the side of the bed, his brows pinched with worry and his eyes red rimmed. He also had dried blood under his nose and a crumpled up tissue sat discarded beside his hand.

That was confusing. Unless it had happened when they'd come to get her? Or maybe he'd tripped because he could be very clumsy. Neither of those options seemed...right though.

Frowning, Natasha examined his face closer and there, on his cheek- scratch marks. Looking down at her left hand, she found her wrist was wrapped up in a thick white cast and there, under her nails, sat dry blood.

It clicked instantly and wide eyed, breaths catching, Natasha almost burst into tears.

Clint reached for her immediately. "Nat, Nat, hey. Hey, just breathe, it's okay."

"Not...not okay." She whispered, finally moving her head, but only to shake it rapidly back and forth. "Not okay. Not okay-"

_monster_

"Sweetheart, take a breath." Clint grasped her hand as Bucky murmured against her ear in soft Russian, rubbing up and down her arm. "It was an accident and I'm fine, I'm really fine, love."

But Natasha was decidedly not fine. At all.

Her mind screamed at her once more as she struggled to catch her breath, brain going fuzzy.

_evil, evil, evil_

_monster_

_weapon_

warred against

_oh god I'm sorry_

_I'm sorry, daddy please_

_I'm sorry, please don't leave me_

A couple of seconds later, Natasha's brain all but back-flipped over that fragile line and she was falling falling falling.

Natty woke up.


	2. The boys POV

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heyyy
> 
> TW'S: blood, seizures, medical stuff, violence, panic attacks
> 
> We're getting properly into the little stuff next chapter but I really want to have a chapter from the guys' POV.

_Four days earlier_

Natasha had been in recovery for thirty minutes. Thirty minutes since Bucky had carried her in, unconscious, bleeding heavily, completely non-responsive.

Thirty minutes since they'd gotten to see her. Thirty minutes she'd been without them. Thirty minutes and still no updates of her condition, on her injuries, if she was awake.

Thirty minutes of Clint pacing up and down, refusing to stop. Thirty minutes of Steve putting on his Captain's hat, demanding answers.

Thirty minutes of panic. Of not knowing.

Then, blissfully, those thirty minutes were at their end and someone came out to speak to them.

Natasha had three broken ribs, and one broken wrist, had multiple cuts bad enough to need two layers of stitches. A concussion severe enough that they couldn't wake her. Severe enough that they'd declared she was in a coma. Severe enough that they didn't know if she would wake. They were carefully monitoring her, mainly monitoring for pressure or fluid around her brain, monitoring to make sure she remained able to breathe on her own.

Once the doctor had left to check on Natasha again, Clint felt his legs falling out from underneath him.

Strong arms wrapped around him, slowing his descent.

"Clint, Clint, hey, breathe-" Steve murmured against the archer's ear and a significantly cold hand combed through his hair.

Bucky kept Clint upright as Steve talked to him, reminding him to breathe, to take a slow breath, that he was doing so good.

It didn't feel like he was doing good. He knew he was crying, that he was shuddering, that his chest _burned_ , that he was getting dizzy.

That cold hand carefully pushed Clint's head down until it was resting against his knees. The archer woozily realized it was cold because it was Bucky's metal hand.

"Breathe, Clint, just like we practiced, don't make me lift your ass off this floor if you go down." Bucky murmured as Steve tenderly pressed something cold and wet to the back of his neck.

Whether it was Bucky's lame attempt at humor or the shock of whatever was against his neck, Clint pulled in a ragged breath, grunting softly as the stars in his vision retracted.

Eventually, he could lift his head and swipe a hand over his eyes. "I need to see her." He said hoarsely.

Bucky and Steve helped him up off the floor and Clint didn't even have it in him to be embarrassed. Once upon a time he may have been but they'd been through too much, all seen too much to be embarrassed about a panic attack that literally all of them had from time to time.

Besides, they had a more pressing issue and that was that Tony was sobbing, face buried in his hands.

As Bucky supported a still wobbly archer, Steve rushed to Tony. Tony didn't need to say anything for the blonde to realize he'd dropped.

"Baby boy, hey now, it's okay, it's gonna be okay. Come here, come to daddy." Steve said softly, opening up his arms. Tony ran right to him, almost tripping up in his haste, throwing himself against Steve.

The blonde hugged him fiercely, whispering soft words against his ear. "I've got you. We've got you."

Bruce stood over Tony's shoulder, sniffling but not crying and not dropped either. He moved, rubbing up and down Tony's back as he sobbed against Steve.

"She's going to be okay, Tone. She always is." Bruce whispered. "Here why don't we do something to help her?" He suggested quietly. "We could go home and get some of her stuff so she has it when she wakes up, yeah? That'll make her feel better."

Steve could've kissed him. "That's a great idea, huh baby? Nat would be so grateful for that. We can even grab her a gift on the way out."

Tony sniffled, unceremoniously wiping her face on Steve's shirt. "Would help?" He whispered tearfully.

"It definitely would." Bruce nodded firmly. "Why doesn't daddy carry you down and we can find the perfect gift and card for Nat?"

"Guess so." Tony whispered, nodding.

Steve gently lifted the boy up, making sure his legs were tight around his waist. He looked over at Bucky and Clint. "Call me."

Bucky knew Steve meant to call him about any changes but he didn't want Tony to hear him asking for that. Nodding, he waved at them as Clint leaned against his side.

Bucky pressed a kiss to Clint's hair. "Let's go see our girl."

...

Bucky and Clint got to sit with Natasha for twenty minutes before things went completely to shit. Again.

The pair were sitting side by side, hand in hand, talking quietly to Natasha, telling her it was time to wake up, talking about old memories and times they'd shared together.

Nothing had been getting noticeably worse at all and Clint had begin to hope that her mind just needed a little time to recuperate and then she would be right up.

Except then Bucky noticed blood beginning to drip down her lips. It was coming from her nose and he thought maybe the oxygen tubes had aggravated an injury there. But then things very quickly spiraled.

Within seconds of him noticing the blood, Natasha began to seize.

Clint moved first, surprisingly calm, telling Bucky to get the doctor as he moved towards the bed. He didn't hold her down, just very carefully made sure she wasn't going to hit her head on the bed railings.

Bucky ran from the room and in seconds there was a med team swarming Natasha.

Clint talked quickly over the voices, telling them how long he'd been counting but after that things were blurry because the pair were pushed from the room. The only reason they stood out in the hall was because they wanted to let the team do their jobs.

They clutched one another's hands, Clint's face still surprisingly calm and Bucky realized it was because he'd seen it happen before. And Natasha had come through it then and he was sure she would now.

So Bucky clung to that belief.

Even as the team raced past them, Natasha on the bed, pale and bloody and shuddering, down to the surgery room.

One of the team stayed back to explain, though coming from two people who had seen just about every injury possible, it wasn't hard to know what was happening.

Natasha was bleeding on her brain and they had to go in and relieve the pressure and stop the source of the blood.

Once that doctor left too, Clint tugged Bucky back over to those awful plastic chairs and they sat there in the quiet for a little while before realizing Steve needed to be updated.

It wasn't text message appropriate but knowing Tony would likely be clinging to Steve and would hear everything they would say in a call, texting was the only option. Then Steve could explain to the boy using adequate kid language.

After the message was sent, Bucky dropped his head to Clint's shoulder as they settled in for the wait.

...

Four hours later, the five of them all sitting together, they were finally given information and relative good news.

The bleed was controlled, they'd drained it fairly easily and it didn't look likely that it would happen again. Natasha was stable, for the time being, and was going to the ICU for the unforeseeable future. She would stay with tube down her throat, the one they'd put in for the surgery, to give her brain time to heal otherwise the signals could get confused or her brain would forget that she was supposed to be breathing and they would likely have to put one in anyway.

But the doctors couldn't give them the news they needed to hear. Whether she would be okay when she woke up. If she would wake up soon or...at all.

Tony, sitting in Bucky's lap, started to cry again, face hidden against the man's neck as he tried to shush him.

"Come on, baby boy, as soon as we're all calmed down we'll go and see your sissy and we can read the stories you brought for her, okay? And I know she'll be so happy to see you were clever enough to think about bringing BunBun." Steve murmured, crouching in front of Bucky so he could brush through Tony's hair.

"Yeah, bud, Nat is gonna love all the stuff you brought and I know even if she can't say anything that she would really love to hear a story." Clint offered a smile.

Tony snuffled and rubbed at his eyes, looking over at Bruce with the most mournful expression ever.

Bruce stood, clapping his hands. "Okay, little man, how about we go get a snack from the machine? You want to help me get something for everyone?"

Tony sighed but nodded, clambering off Bucky's lap and taking Bruce's hand. "Can we get Snickers?"

"Just for you, Tone." Bruce hummed as he led him away to the machine.

Steve exhaled shakily, rubbing his hands over his face, letting his shoulders fall for a minute now that Tony was occupied.

Bucky and Clint pressed a hand to a shoulder each, sharing a quiet moment between them before they stood, ready to settle into the room and wait for their girl to wake up.

...

_Today_

Clint had been dozing against the bed when he felt something hitting his shoulder.

Momentarily disorientated, he lifted his head to find that Natasha was struggling to get off the bed, her legs tangled up in the blankets.

When she looked at him and Bucky, there was nothing there behind her gaze. No recognition, no love, just fear and anger.

The woman growled as Bucky wrapped his arms around her waist, trying to get her to stay on the bed because she was close to pulling out her IV's out and the oxygen tubes under her nose had already been pulled from her head. "Nat, please, it's us, stop-"

Just as Bucky managed to get a hold of the struggling woman, Natasha hit out, hitting Clint full pelt in the face. His nose immediately spurted with blood and he flew back a good foot before getting back up and coming back over.

Bucky had her hands gently in his metal one now, the other arm still around her waist.

"You're okay, we're not gonna hurt you-" Clint said thickly, rubbing his nose off on his sleeve.

Natasha kicked out, catching Bucky in the thigh, causing the man to loosen his hold for less than a second. It had been enough time for Natasha to almost make it off the bed, the railing of the bed digging into her back as she tried to make it to the floor.

More kicks but this time the men successfully managed to avoid them.

Clint had gotten up to her side, whispering in Russian, fingers stroking through what hair he could, since there were bandages wrapped around it.

Natasha struggled desperately but the kicks got weaker and sloppier and Bucky got her half back onto the bed before she passed out.

After getting her successfully back on the bed, Clint pulled a doctor into the room.

The woman fixed the IV's and checked they didn't need to be moved and done again, placed an oxygen mask over her head since her levels were a little low, and carefully checked Clint over, determining his nose wasn't broken.

Despite how Natasha had woken up, the woman seemed to think it was a good sign. For starters, well, she'd woken up. Secondly, confusion was to be expected and considering their line of work, violent confusion was actually pretty common considering they were in a Shield hospital. Despite her levels being a little off, the doctor assured them that it all looked as good as was possible. It was likely she would wake again and Clint only hoped she would be clearer because seeing Natasha so frantic was terrifying and wasn't something he'd seen in a while.

The doctor left after adding some pain meds to the IV and then the pair were left alone.

Bruce had not unsurprisingly dropped and Steve had taken the boys to the cafe.

Once again Bucky found himself needing to text Steve updates so the boy's didn't hear. He was just grateful Bruce and Tony hadn't been there to see their sister like that.

With a soft sigh, Bucky helped Clint change into a clean shirt, pulling one from their bags at the end of the room, having the archer lean against him so he could help stop his nose from bleeding.

When the bleeding stopped, the pair decided it would be a good idea for one of them to settle in behind Natasha, in case she woke up confused again. Since Clint was cleaning blood off himself, Bucky carefully shuffled in behind Nat, one leg hanging off the bed as he settled the woman's head in his lap. He closed his eyes and tipped his head back, ready for yet more waiting.

...

The next time Natasha woke up, she was completely clear and the boys could breathe a little easier.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lemme know how you like it so far? Comments make me happy :)  
> Thank you for reading! <3


	3. Natty wakes up and checking in on the boys

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys. I hope you can all forgive me but with how my health is at the moment, I can't post the bigger chapters like I usually do. It's too much. So I'm now writing shorter chapters but they will be just as detailed and because they're shorter, there will be more of them. 
> 
> It just means that I can get content I'm happy with up as opposed to waiting weeks until a longer chapter is finally done. I hope this won't affect you guys sticking with me and I appreciate all the support. 
> 
> Thank you for reading!
> 
> Russian translations:  
> malyshka - baby

"Sweetheart, baby, hey, look at me." Clint shuffled his position and ducked his head down into the girl's line of view. 

That had been one of Natasha's quickest drops ever and that was usually not a very good sign. It meant she was distressed, upset, anxious, and probably right down in her age.

Natasha pulled in a quivering breath, eyes wide, tears already spilling over her cheeks.

"Take a breath, malyshka, you're okay." Bucky murmured from behind her, though his hands were nowhere near her now. He wanted to wait until she made any signs she wanted the contact since the last thing they wanted was to trigger Natasha and make anything worse.

Natasha whimpered, the sound both scared and overwhelmed. Her wide eyes looked around the room, still taking in everything big Natasha would have.

"Sweetheart, you're okay." Clint murmured, "you're in the hospital because you got some ouchies but they're making you all better, okay? We're gonna go home real soon."

The redhead sniffled again, lower lip wobbling. She looked first at Clint and then craned her head up to see Bucky. Finally she spoke.

"S...scary-" she whispered, gaze landing on the IV first and the cast around her wrist second.

"Baby, can daddy give you a hug?" Bucky asked, voice trembling just a little.

Natty swallowed and jerked her head down, nodding rapidly. 

Immediately Bucky leaned forward, arms sliding around her, pulling her against his chest. Clint scooted closer to the bed, hand rubbing up and down the girl's back.

"We know it's so scary, Talia, but we're here. Your brothers are with papa just down the hall. You're safe." Bucky whispered against her hair, cradling his little girl close. 

"You're being so brave." Clint said quietly, leaning in to press a kiss to her temple. "So brave."

Natasha let out a shaky breath, wiping at her eyes. She was pale and looked vaguely sick as she squeezed her eyes shut for a moment. 

She curled smaller in on herself and Clint hated that he had to gently pull her shoulders back up. "You've got some ouchies on your ribs and so you have to be very gentle with them. You can't get all small or you might hurt the ouchies more." He said quietly, thumb running over her cheek as her eyes filled with tears again.

"Does it hurt, baby girl? Is that why you were getting all small? To try and make it stop?" Bucky asked softly, running a reassuring hand up and down the girl's trembling back. 

Teeth biting down into her lower lip, Natty nodded, her knuckles white as they dug into the sides of her arms.

"Okay, kotyonok, I'm just gonna go get the doctor so you can have some medicine to stop the ouch, okay?" Clint pushed his chair back, leaning forward to drop a kiss to her temple. 

Natasha nodded again, weakly leaning her head back against Bucky's chest, shuddering with the overwhelming feelings going on.

Bucky rocked her very gently, humming under his breath, still rubbing her back. He met Clint's gaze as the archer headed to the door and the pain in his eyes matched his own.

Clint offered a small smile and a wave for Natty's benefit. "I'll be right back, sweetheart."

Once out the door, Clint leaned against the wall and took a couple of carefully measured breaths in and out. It never got easier. Seeing one of them hurt. Seeing them dropped and hurt. Seeing Natasha like that.

Rubbing a hand over his temples, he pushed away from the wall in search of Natasha's doctor.

She still had the IV in so luckily they wouldn't have to go through the trauma of attempting to get Natty to take meds orally or even worse, needing to put another needle in, they could just do it through the one already there.

After finding the doctor and asking for the meds, Clint headed to the cafe. He wanted to tell the others about Natasha being up, but also wanted to get the girl some juice and something easy to eat.

He couldn't stop the smile spreading across his face as he saw Steve and the boys. 

Bruce had been worrying himself sick. Because the boy was fairly old on the spectrum, compared to Nat and Tony anyway, the doctor part of him never really went away and so even though Steve had tried to explain what had happened in a kiddy way, Bruce had known what he was really saying.

He'd been convinced that his sister waking so confused and distressed was a bad sign. That she had damage to her brain. That something was very wrong. So upon seeing Clint's smile, the boy was immediately up on his feet. "Natasha?"

"She's up," Clint nodded, reaching the table, "she's clear, she understands, can speak and move. It seems...It seems good." He said quietly, smiling as he ruffled Tony's hair.

Bruce exhaled and buried his face in his hands, trembling. "Oh god. That's...good. She's good." He breathed.

Steve, shoulders loosening from their tense position, rubbed Bruce's back. "She's good, kiddo."

Tony, jam around his mouth, beamed up at Clint. "Sissy better?"

Clint crouched, poking the tip of the boy's nose. "She's getting better, baby. I'm sure we'll be able to go home soon."

Tony whooped and hopped out of his seat, sticky fingers wrapping around Clint's neck.

The archer hummed, squeezing the boy tight, kissing the top of his head. "How're you feelin' little man? Excited to see your sister?"

"Mhm," Tony nodded, pulling back and clapping his hands, looking over at Steve. "Daddy? Sissy?" He asked insistently and Clint had the feeling that that was definitely not the first time Tony had asked that question.

"Very soon, Tone, Clint just needs to go make sure sissy is up to it, okay? We don't want to overwhelm her." Steve said gently.

Tony sighed loudly, groaning for extra measure. At least he didn't stamp his feet, though he did cross his arms over his chest.

"I know, darling, I know you're getting annoyed and you want to see Natty. Just a little longer, bud, we want to make sure she's feeling okay." Steve murmured, pushing back his chair. "Here, why don't you come sit and finish your milk whilst your brother goes to talk to sissy?" He suggested, patting his knee.

A still disgruntled Tony huffed and sighed but did clamber up onto Steve's lap, sucking furiously on the pacifier Bruce slyly handed to him.

"Brucie, I have a special mission for you." Clint hummed, holding out his hand. "Natty is going to need something easy to eat and drink, do you think you could pick something out and pay for it all by yourself?"

Bruce took Clint's hand, traipsing over to join the back of the line. "I can. You can trust me.'' He said firmly. "You should get back to Natty, Tone's been real good but he's just gettin'..."

"I know, bud. Everyone's been really worried and sick of waiting." Clint sighed softly, "but we just have to make sure Nat's feeling up to it, yeah?"

Bruce nodded, "yeah. Tony's just antsy. He just wants to see her. So...if Nat isn't up to anyone else, maybe she can jus' see Tony? Even just for a minute. He's been so worried."

Clint smiled, pulling Bruce into a hug. "You've been worried too, bud. And don't be silly, I'm sure Natasha would love to see all of you, even if we take it in turns, huh? Now, are you ready for your mission?"

"Ready." Bruce nodded, face determined. 

Clint smiled and ruffled the boy's hair. "I'll text papa to let you all know." He assured, taking a last glance back at Steve and Tony before heading back to Natty's room.


	4. Family

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys!!!
> 
> TW'S: medical stuff, talk of injuries
> 
> Russian translations:  
> malyshka - baby  
> kotyonok - kitten
> 
> As always italics are thoughts and memories

When Clint got back to Natasha's room, Natty was still curled into Bucky's side. This time though, the oxygen mask had been replaced with the tubes again and she was sucking on one of the pacifers from her bag.

Her pained features had smoothed out a little which told Clint that the medicine was working already.

The little girl also had BunBun tightly in her grasp and yes, Tony was an actual angel because Nat's stuffie had been hidden in the playroom in one of the little cots they had for their dolls and the other two had been unable to find it.

Now, seeing Natasha finally seeming a little more relaxed, he was grateful they'd been able to collect all the things that brought her the most comfort.

Clint smiled softly as he took his seat again, fingers brushing over the girl's hair. A slightly glazed gaze looked over at him, watching his movements.

"Are the ouchies feeling a little better, love?" He asked, thumb running over her cheek.

Natasha nodded slowly, and through the haze from the meds, the look in her eyes was familiar.

She was young. Like, dropped at her lowest age, young. Which meant non-verbal.

"Okay, so I think we should get our girl in something comfy, hmm? Would you liked to get changed into something better than this icky gown?"

Natasha hummed softly, blinking at Clint with the big eyes that absolutely no one could resist.

Clint laughed softly, "you don't have to do the puppy eyes with me, you know I'll give you anything you want."

Natasha babbled softly in response as Bucky chuckled too, slowly shifting from behind him. "Alright, kotyonok, we bought some jammies that are easier to get into. They might not be your favourite but those ones are waiting for when we go home."

As Bucky shuffled out of the bed, Clint braced the girl's back, cradling her head so she wouldn't flop right down onto the bed because her age meant she couldn't really hold herself up very well.

Bucky rummaged in their bags, pulling out a soft purple shirt and a pair of black sleep shorts. Next he found a pair of Natasha's fluffy socks and her blankie. Taking the items over to the bed, Bucky found that Clint had already figured out how to get her changed.

Somehow between the two of them, they managed to get Natty out of the gown and into her pjs, making sure they didn't pull the IV and re-settling the oxygen tubes around her face when they were done.

This time Clint got behind the girl so Bucky could stretch his legs and he gently settled Natty against his side.

The poor girl looked exhausted after getting changed so the boys let her sit still for a few minutes before jumping in and asking if she wanted to see the others.

Blinking, Natty spat her paci out and babbled something incoherent, but she was smiling and looking more alert so they took that as a good sign.

Bucky smiled as he text Steve. "If it gets too much, malyshka, you remember our signal?" He asked the girl.

Natty, now once more sucking on a (clean) pacifier, drew her finger over Clint's shoulder before tapping two times. She then rested her head against the same shoulder, snuggling up.

"Good girl, okay, so we do the signal if you don't feel good and need some space. Don't feel bad about it, it's very important you tell us." Bucky smiled, closing his phone after Steve sent far too many emojis in response.

Clint smiled softly over at Bucky as he rubbed up and down Natty's back.

Bucky could almost imagine Clint's smartass comments in his head. Rolling his eyes but unable to keep the smile of his face, because things were finally looking up after a week of straight up torture, Bucky finally felt settled.

_They'd all known Natasha was going on mission. The family always knew when one of them was leaving. It wasn't unusual, sure Nat and Clint had had a few less missions of late, but that was because they'd been so busy teaching at Shield and well, they'd requested a few days for family business._

_The week leading up to the mission had been wonderful. They'd finally been able to have the tea party the kids had been waiting months for. They'd dressed up, played party games, ate a lot of food and Natty had even convinced Bucky to learn a ballet routine with her just so they could perform it for everyone._

_They'd had countless movie nights, had a playdate with Maria, gone to the park among multiple other things._

_It had been a fantastic week and that had made it more difficult to see Nat go. Of course no one was ever going to stop her and she wanted to get the mission done, but it was still much harder these days than it had been in the beginning._

_Still, Steve had dropped her off at Shield and returned back to the tower to continue life as normal._

_The first hint they'd had that something was wrong was Phil's call to ask if Natasha had contacted any of them. Of course they'd said no because she hadn't but that had started the panic because Nat wasn't supposed to contact them anyway. They were to have radio silence and the only contact Nat would have was with Phil._

_Phil had told them that Natasha was an hour late to check in and that he'd wanted them to know, even though it most likely meant she'd just been too busy to call._

_So the team weren't full on panicking just yet. But then that one hour turned into two, turned into five, and Natasha still hadn't checked in._

_After they got that third call from Phil, Tony was immediately hacking into Shield, getting the mission details and using them to find Natasha's last known location._

_The next two days passed in a haze of activity._

_Tony constantly sat at the computers with Bruce at his side as they collected the slow coming information._

_Steve and Bucky occupied themselves prepping weapons and the jet in case they had to leave suddenly._

_Clint spent those two days listening to every single channel the pair had ever used. The search was fruitless until early into the third day, he found it._

_A burst of morse code that had been sent so rapidly, Tony had had to slow the whole thing down just so they could figure out where the pauses were._

_And then finally- coordinates._

_Natasha loved Phil, trusted Phil, but sometimes she just needed Clint instead._

_They were taking off minutes later, suited up, weapons ready._

_Natasha rarely needed their help. Like, at all. More than once they'd gone to her to provide back up to find the job already done by the time they got there. A couple of times they'd found her after she'd been taken, bursting in to find that she'd gotten out of her bonds and was already on her way out the doors._

_Clint hoped it would be one of those times. Nat would call them over-protective dumb boys but would smile at them because they'd never let her down._

_But something in his gut told him this wasn't one of those times. Nat's message had been quick, too quick to be completely thought out, to be planned. She'd done it in a rush for whatever reason, and no reason was good._

_They'd landed and split up, searching the compound, dispatching of the enemy until Bucky radioed to say he'd found her._

_By the time Clint had raced to Bucky's location, the man was cradling Natasha._

_She was limp in his arms, covered in blood, so much so that Clint couldn't even see her facial features. Her arm, laying across her stomach, was bent at an unnatural angle and she had bruised and torn up skin around her wrists- from cuffs, he realized._

_She was wearing a dirty tank top and shorts, both covered in blood that he could only assume was hers and which Bucky quickly confirmed._

_"Her head's bleeding. Bad." He spoke as they took off to the jet. "I tried to wake her but couldn't. Her pupils are blown and there's blood in her ear, I can't tell if it's from an injury or-" Bucky swallowed, gritting his teeth as they made it onto the jet._

_He laid Natasha down on a cot, taking a step back so Bruce could start to help._

_As some of the blood was wiped away, cuts and slash marks began to reveal themselves; curving across her abdomen, drawn down from her hip to her knee, across her collarbone and more, more that looked like shallow stab wounds instead of straight cuts._

_The jet was already off, Tony taking them to the nearest Shield hospital, where they'd already been called to prep._

_Clint watched Bruce, careful not to get in his way, but needing to catalog the injuries for his own sanity._

_As Bruce pressed a cloth_ _down over the slash across her stomach, Clint could see the bruises littering her pale skin- across her left side mostly, disappearing under the hem of the shirt pushed up to her ribs, trailing over her stomach and around her side._

_He cataloged those too, filing them in his head for possible repercussions; internal bleeding, broken ribs, damaged organs._

_They landed at the hospital with Natasha still unconscious, still losing blood, still without her having opened her eyes once._

_Bucky gently scooped her up, leaving her in the hands of the medics, and then they were in for the wait._

Now, seeing Natty snuggle into Clint, seeing her pretty clear and awake and _safe_ , Bucky was sure he would take any amount of smartass Clint could ever give him.

There was a knock at the door then and Natty twisted a little so she could look over at the three bodies that tentatively came in.

Steve was at the back, one hand on Bruce's shoulder, one hand on Tony's.

Both boys looked uncertain and Tony was chewing at his lip as he carefully held a colorful gift bag in both his hands. Bruce had two balloons in his grasp and looked just as shy as they all stepped forward.

"Hi sissy." Tony lisped softly. "Daddy said we could come see you and bring the presents we gots you." His cheeks pinkened a little as he moved towards the bed.

Tony, looking back at Steve for confirmation, crept up to the bed railings. He leaned over, pressing the gentlest kiss to Natty's temple.

Natasha babbled softly, paci dropped once more so she could smile at her brother. She reached out with her uninjured hand, giggling as she patted at one of his no longer sticky cheeks.

Tony beamed, chest puffed out with pride. He looked over his shoulder. "Brucie." He stage whispered. "B'loons."

Bruce flushed and came up on Natasha's other side, dropping the weight attached to the balloons to the floor. "See this one says 'get better soon' and this one says 'congratulations' I think 'cause they ran outta the other ones so congratulations for gettin' better I guess?" His face scrunched up. "And they didn't have any red ones which is sad 'cause red is your favorite but we hope you like 'em anyways." He clasped his hands together.

Natty, eyes lighting up as she watched the balloons float, babbled happily again, clapping her hands together (as best as she could with the cast). She puckered her lips up and Bruce finally smiled, ducking his head to kiss her cheek.

Tony, now perched on Bucky's knee, wriggling with anticipation, pointed at the gift back. "Sissy, you gotta look at your presents."

Clint laughed softly, "alright bud but sissy is gonna need some help. Are you boys up to the task?" He grinned, looking over at Bruce too.

The boys shared a smile and nodded, moving to open the bag together.

Clint cooed down at Natasha, kissing her hair. "Then it's present time."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Also the tea party I mentioned as well as them having a playdate with Maria are already firm fic ideas that will be coming in the future.
> 
> Maybe leave me a comment if you enjoyed? They make me so happy.


	5. Presents, flashbacks and lots of love

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tw for flashbacks of the torture/beating, very brief mention of non con touching-implied to have been somewhat sexual and bear in mind these are adult memories in a little girl's head right now
> 
> Russian translations:  
> Milaya - sweetie  
> Kotyonok - kitten  
> Malyshka- baby

Bruce and Tony carefully pulled the presents from the bag, laying them on Natty's lap so she could see the pretty rainbow wrapping paper.

She wasn't coordinated enough right then to open the paper herself, but the boys were more than happy to unwrap them for her.

The first gift was a pretty purple headband, picked out in case Natasha was uncomfortable with the part of her hair that had had to be shaved, she could cover the patch up if she wanted. The next present was a new colouring book, since Natty would need to rest up and heal and probably couldn't be running around playing too much and colouring always calmed her down too. Next she had a tiny little tutu that matched her own pastel rainbow one, to go onto her stuffed Liho kitty that she'd gotten from Uncle Phil. It looked just like their real Liho, being looked after at home along with Lucky. She had a whole bunch of stickers next, and even more crayons so she could craft lots. Lastly, she had a very homemade picture frame from the boys, with a picture of them all inside from their tea party the week before.

Natasha seemed very happy with the presents, looking up at Clint as she mumbled excitedly about something no one understood completely. But she seemed very pleased and had the biggest smile on her face so they knew it was good.

Tony looked extremely pleased with himself as he settled on Bucky's lap this time, unable to stop from wiggling with how much pride he took in being able to make his sister smile.

And Bruce certainly wasn't one to be left out. He stood beside Natasha's head, smiling softly and talking to her as he stroked extra gentle fingers over her forehead.

"We're gonna look after you, Natty." Bruce breathed, eyes soft as his sister looked up at him.

"Yeah, sissy!" Tony beamed from Bucky's lap. "Gonna get you all the stuffies an' read stories and play lots an' lots."

Natasha giggled softly, very firmly tucked into Clint's side.

"Do you wanna have a story?" Bruce asked gently, moving to take a seat on the other side of the bed. "Tone brought lots."

Gurgling softly, Natty pulled at Clint's shirt.

"I think that's a yes, bud, great idea." Clint smiled, warmth flooding him as his family all settled in.

Tony curled against Bucky, head on his shoulder, his stuffed dino on his lap. Bruce sitting next to Steve, shoulder to shoulder as the boy began to read one of the stories.

With Natty preoccupied, Clint managed to open up a pudding cup and get her to eat the entire thing. It wasn't much but he would try to get her to eat something every few hours.

Things went well for an hour or so. Everyone except Tony and Natty took turns reading from the different story books.

Despite thinking Natasha would drop off to sleep, she was very much awake, making soft noises or clapping her hands as everyone went through different voices.

Tony was flagging, not surprising after all the emotion and worry and he was drifting against his daddy when Natty's demeanour shifted.

She'd been listening avidly to one of her favourite stories Love Monster when her eyes glazed a little and she stopped responding to the story.

Clint frowned, gently brushing his hand over her hair as Steve stopped reading.

"Milaya?" The archer asked the girl softly so as not to startle her.

Natasha shivered, squeezing her eyes shut as hazy memories, feelings, emotions flooded a brain too young to understand it.

In her mind, she was sitting on something cold, something hard and tight around her wrists and she couldn't _move_ and everything _hurt_ so bad.

There were hands everywhere, hitting into her, sliding over her skin, moving all over, bringing pain and horrible icky feelings inside her.

Something warm covered her eyes, it was sticky and smelled like metal and burned but that didn't stop whoever was being mean.

Her chest hurt _so_ bad. Like when she had an icky scary moment and felt like she couldn't breathe except it wasn't one of those times cause the bad man had hurt something inside her.

She could taste metal in her mouth as she struggled to catch her breath. She just knew she couldn't talk to them. Couldn't give away anything.

_Don't beg. Don't speak. Don't cry. Don't scream. Don't._

Pain exploded in her head and all she could see was stars and all she could feel was agony and all she could hear was the buzzing in her head and laughter and then everything went dark.

Natasha slammed back to reality, shivering violently, panicked gaze scanning the room.

"Nat, Natasha, hey look at me, you're okay-" daddy murmured as the girl shuddered and tried to catch her breath.

She didn't understand what had just happened, what she'd been remembering, why that was happening to her.

Apparently daddy understood because he was being very gentle, telling her to breathe, rubbing a hand up her back.

Daddy Steve was rubbing at her ankle and Brucie hovered at her side, looking like he was worried he would hurt her.

Daddy whispered softly to her, "you're okay, baby, you were just remembering some bad stuff but it's okay because you're not there anymore. You're here with your family, safe and sound, I promise."

Natasha whimpered, trying to lift her hands to cover her face, overwhelmed and confused.

Unfortunately she forgot the she had her cast wrapped about one of her wrists and as she went to cover her face, she hit herself square in her forehead with the thick cast. 

The room was silent for a second as Natty blinked rapidly, lip trembling.

The girl burst into tears as a red mark bloomed across her forehead.

She took big gulping breaths, sobbing desperately, confused and in pain and too young to understand anything that was going on.

"Oh kotyonok, baby, you're okay. Oh your poor head." Clint breathed, gently tugging the girl to his chest, rocking the frantic girl. 

"Malyshka, it's okay. We know you're so confused and scared right now but we promise you're safe. It's okay to feel overwhelmed, you're not alone." Steve murmured.

Bucky looked like he wanted to do something to help her but Tony was somehow still sleeping on his lap and he was loathe to wake the boy when his sister was so upset.

"We've got you, sissy." Bruce said gently, stroking over the hair he could reach.

Natty sniffled, still crying but softer now, more hiccuping little cries than anything. Her face was firmly buried against Clint's chest, the front of his shirt wet with the girl's tears.

After a few more minutes, Natty quietened, just sniffling softly, her eyes blinking tiredly. 

Bruce and Steve cautiously sat back down. "How about we finish the story, bud?" The blonde asked, knowing that Natasha was more than ready for a nap, the poor girl.

Bruce, biting his lip, cautiously picked up the storybook.

"Okay, sissy..." Bruce began the story again, barely getting a few pages in before Natasha was fast asleep.

Clint carefully slid her pacifier into her mouth so if she ground her teeth as she usually did when very little, she wouldn't do any damage.

Bruce finished off the story anyway as Steve slid BunBun into the girl's grasp, watching their little girl sleep.

Sure, things were never always going to be perfect but Natasha was safe, alive and would get better and that felt pretty perfect to them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One more chapter to go and I promise they'll be fluff next time whoops
> 
> Comments are my life ily all


	6. Home time and the best family

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoy the final chapter, I hope I did okay.
> 
> TW: seizures
> 
> Russian translations:  
> malyshka - baby  
> milaya - sweetie  
> kotyonok - kitten
> 
> There will probably be a fic set after this one that deals with the recovery etc

"Here we go, baby, finally home." Bucky hummed to Natasha as the group stepped onto the main floor.

They'd spent the last week at the hospital, alternating shifts so a few at a time could come home to shower and eat and sleep in a bed. No one had wanted to leave but with Tony and Bruce dropped for a lot of the time, it was important for them that they still had a normal routine.

Clint had dropped for a little bit of time the day after Natasha woke up and it wasn't surprising at all.

He'd spent some time with his sissy, helped her decorate Bucky's arm with stickers, sang softly to her, curled up and napped with her.

The day after that, he'd been daddy again. Natasha had been dropped the entire hospital stay and was still little as they got home.

It was one of the longest drops she'd had since they'd all known her but with how emotionally and physically drained and overwhelmed she was, it wasn't that surprising.

"Home." Natty said softly, her head resting against Bucky's shoulder. She'd slowly aged up over the days and was now sitting at her usual age.

Pressing a kiss to the girl's temple, Bucky very carefully deposited Natty onto the couch.

Natasha winced a little as she shifted to get comfortable, pressing a hand to her ribs.

"I know pumpkin, I'm sorry it hurts." Bucky said softly, gently rubbing his thumb over her cheek. ''We can't give you your medicine yet, baby."

Natasha sniffled and rubbed at her eyes. "'S okay."

"Here, how about I help you get comfortable? Daddy knows a thing or two about icky ribs." Bucky smiled reassuringly as her leaned down, gently swinging her legs up onto the couch. He propped her back up with cushions and made sure she wasn't squished up in a way that would hurt her more.

"Better." Natasha breathed, her pinched features smoothing out a little.

"Yeah? That's good. You gotta tell one of us if it starts to hurt more, okay malyshka?" He asked as he spread out the blanket from the back of the couch over the girl.

"Okay, daddy." Natty whispered, fiddling with the headband. She still had a bandage wrapped around her head but she'd been adamant she wanted the headband too since Tony had been so proud to give it to her.

"If it hurts, little love, why don't we take the headband off for a little while? We can put it back on later."

Natasha sighed, fiddling with her hands. "Yeah." She said softly. "Lil' pinchy."

After helping the girl get the headband off, Bucky kissed her forehead. "Okay so are we napping or are we watching TV?"

"TV please." Natasha lisped. "Not sleepy."

"Yay, TV!" A voice sounded from behind Bucky, followed by a chuckle.

Steve had taken Tony straight to his room to get changed and it was clear that the boy was more than excited to be home as they came over to the couch area.

"Yeah, baby, you wanna watch TV with your sister?" Bucky hummed as Tony flopped down on a seat.

Tony just grinned in response, looking over at Natasha. "You pick, sissy."

Natty bit her lip, fiddling with the remote. "Octonauts?" She asked softly.

"Sure!" Tony beamed, laughing softly as Steve sat beside him and tugged the boy onto his lap.

Natasha put the show on, craning her head to look around the room.

"Clint and Bruce are just getting your room sorted, baby." Bucky said gently as he noticed her looking for them. "And they're getting a few more stuffies to look after you." He gently sat down on the couch, lifting her legs up and laying them across her lap.

Smiling, Natasha dropped her head back to the pillows, watching the screen.

It turned out that Clint and Bruce had been a bit busier than just sorting Natasha's room out. When they came into the living room, they were carrying trays of snacks and drinks for everyone, as well as the aforementioned stuffie army sent to protect her. 

Clint was smiling nervously, cheeks a little pink as he brought one of the trays over. "We thought it might be nice." He said quietly, ever so gently lowering his wares onto the table.

"It's very nice." Bucky said softly, smiling at the pair of them. It was clear that Clint wasn't big Clint but he also didn't appear to be fully dropped. "Thank you very much. And look at that, milaya," he said to Natty, "they bought choco milk, isn't that nice?"

"Choco milk." Natty echoed, nodding and smiling. "Thanks." She smiled as Clint gently wrapped her fingers around her bottle.

"You're welcome, Nat." Clint beamed, pressing a kiss to the girl's forehead. "Try an' eat some snacks too, m'kay?"

Natty sighed, fiddling with the bottle for a moment. "Try." She said softly.

"That's all we ask, kotyonok." Bucky murmured, squeezing her ankle.

"'Cause we gotta get you all strong and stuff." Bruce said as he came back from giving Tony his special milk- it was only milk, vanilla protein powder and frozen blueberries but he _loved_ it.

"Yeah good an' strong." Clint nodded. "So we got your favourites. Strawberries all cut up an' peanut butter crackers an' carrots and ranch."

Natasha hummed softly, looking over the snacks on the table. Looking up at Clint, she pointed at the strawberries, all nearly laid out on one of her plastic plates.

Clint and Bruce grinned as the former picked up the plate and plopped right down on the floor by her head to feed the fruit to her.

Natty was so full of love she thought she might burst.

...

The day passed in much the same way. The group watched TV, ate snacks, ordered pizza for dinner and got the kids ready for bed.

They were watching their last show of the evening. 

Natasha had been sleepy for the past hour but stubbornly refused to go to sleep so Clint had curled up with her in the hopes he could help her drift off.

Because of his position, he was the first to notice that something was wrong. He tried very hard not to panic, remembering that Steve and Bucky had told them that because Natasha had hurt her head, this could happen. They'd also said that if it did happen, it probably wouldn't happen for long, just until all the icky swelling went down.

So he was trying his best not to panic, and kinda failing a little because of where he sat in age; straddling the line of big and little.

As Natasha's body locked up, Clint hastily clambered off the couch. "Someone take Tony out the room." He managed to say.

Without question, Bucky jumped up from his couch, plucked Tony from his seat, rested him against his hip, and left the room.

Steve and Bruce were rushing over then, just as the seizure began.

Steve carefully made sure the pillows under her head weren't going to move and Bruce, still always part doctor no matter how young he fell, grabbed the blanket off of her.

Clint couldn't do anything more than watch as Natasha seized and twitched. He wanted to cover his eyes but couldn't. He needed to be strong.

He moved to the couch, singing as best as he could in slightly broken Russian. It was one of her favourite songs and he wanted her to wake up to it. Because she was going to wake up. The doctors had said so. They just had to make sure it didn't last too long and she wasn't bleeding.

She started to come round a minute later, struggling to open her eyes, a little blood on her lips but that seemed to be from her accidentally biting into them and not because of her head.

There was a soft whimper from the girl and she moved weakly, face pale.

Clint didn't falter in his song, he just now also stroked a gentle hand over the girl's hair.

After a few more minutes, Natasha's eyes fluttered open, her brows furrowed. "'S happenin'?"

"You had a seizure, love." Steve said quietly, crouching so he was in her line of sight. "But you're okay, remember how we talked about how it might happen?"

Natasha hummed, rubbing a shaky hand over her mouth. "Icky." She whispered.

"We should get you cleaned up and to bed." Bruce said quietly. "I'm sure you'll feel better after some sleep."

"'Kay." Natty sniffled.

As Steve lifted the girl of the couch, he could feel that her diaper was wet. He made no comment on it, just went straight to the changing room.

With Clint's help, since he had insisted on staying with them, he quickly cleaned and wiped the girl, pulling on a new diaper and a clean onesie.

"There we go, baby, all ready for bed." He cooed softly, lifting the girl back up. She yawned and nestled into his shoulder.

Once in Natty's room, Clint pulled back the covers and Steve carefully got the girl all tucked up under them.

It wasn't going to be good for Natasha if she had a whole room full of people but the doctor had mentioned that someone should keep an eye on her, not like they hadn't already been planning on that anyway.

Since Bucky was likely already settling Tony down with Bruce, it made sense for Steve to stay with Natasha. And there was no way in hell he was going to be able to convince Clint to go to his own room.

Natasha seemed reluctant to let him go anyway so he climbed under the covers next, smiling as Natty took one of his hands in her un-casted one.

Clint tenderly pressed a kiss to her hair as they lay face to face, at least two stuffies tucked in between them.

After finishing fussing around the bed, Steve rolled out his sleeping bag onto the carpet, laying spare pillows up at the top.

Next, he made sure there were drinks ready and waiting, that the night light was on, that Natty had her pacifier and that he had his phone so he could communicate with Bucky without needing to leave the room.

Steve sat at the end of the bed, watching as Natasha drifted already. He started to read one of her storybooks to them, hoping he'd be able to get Clint down too, even if he wasn't fully dropped.

As it turned out, it was a lot easier than expected to get both of them to sleep. Apparently cuddling one another was a sure fire way whatever the headspace.

Tucking himself up in his sleeping bag, Steve settled in with his phone to wait until sleep came.

He had a text message waiting for him.

**To Stevie**  
**From Buck**

_How's Natasha?_

**To Buck**  
**From Stevie**

_Okay. It didn't last long. She's sleeping now. Clint too. Did Tony react at all?_

**To Stevie**  
**From Buck**

_Thankfully he just thought it was bedtime. Tomorrow we can explain to him._

**To Buck**  
**From Stevie**

_Sounds like a plan. Are you on the floor too?_

**To Stevie**  
**From Buck**

_Sure am. Just in case._

**To Buck**  
**From Stevie**

_We have a pretty great family, huh?_

**To Stevie**  
**From Buck**

_The best._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading! And for everyone who is here after reading some of my others, thank you for sticking with me, I hope I did okay :) Please comment if you liked? They really motivate me, especially when I'm struggling to write with what's going on with my health at the moment. <3

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys. I hope you can all forgive me but with how my health is at the moment, I can't post the bigger chapters like I usually do. It's too much. So I'm now writing shorter chapters but they will be just as detailed and because they're shorter, there will be more of them. It just means that I can get content I'm happy with up as opposed to waiting weeks until a longer chapter is finally done. I hope this won't affect you guys sticking with me and I appreciate all the support. 
> 
> Thank you for reading! Comments are my lifeblood and maybe subscribe so you don't miss anything!


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